Baseball’s 15 Biggest One-Hit Wonders of All-Time

RICK ANKIEL, SP, CARDINALS 2000

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Ankiel’s story is a popular one. As a 20-year-old rookie for the Cardinals the lefty made 30 starts and finished with a 3.50 ERA in 175 innings. He finished second in Rookie of the Year voting and was supposed to be the savior for a staff that had suddenly gotten old and mediocre. But then the playoffs happened. Ankiel couldn’t throw strikes that postseason and never again regained his pitching form, giving up entirely after a failed comeback in 2004.

Comments

While Brady Anderson’s meteoric 52 HRs might have seemed phenomenal, many have speculated he had a little “help” from steroids. It’s simply defies logic for such a drastic improvement followed immediately by an incredible drop off from that 52 dinger season.

I think a little bit of research might be helpful here. Mark Fidrych wasn’t derailed by a dead arm caused by a heavy work load. He injured his knee and did not report it which led to an arm injury. I guess some people just don’t care about accurate reporting any more.